RFL vs. RFA?

They sound the same because they are the same. Lesioning is a new found word that is replacing"ablation" simply because the word itself is misleading. Ablation means to remove something and that's not exactly the correct term for whats taking place with RFA/RFL.

It's more like a melting rather than removal of anything. Hip ablation is the smoothing of the hip socket to aid in sufficiently better movement of the ball in the joint whereas nerve ablation is more of a melting taking place at the end of the needle leaving a"lesion" like area on the nerve by an electrode thats deposited by the needle and activated by radio frequency. That"lesion" then interferes with the conduction of the nerve impulse crossing the synapse and preventing the impulse from reaching your brain to signal the"ouch" that hurts feeling.

Like most procedures we have done it can cause an increase in pain for awhile before that lesion actually completes the interruption of those signals meaning increasing pain then generally seeing relief in 1-2 weeks post procedure. There's of course exceptions to the rule and some see relief sooner some later and some never experience the increase at all in pain.

There you have it.